Vaccination hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccine services. According to the NIH, opposition to vaccination dates back to the 1800 s, Edward Jenner, and the first vaccine ever. It has never gone away despite the public’s growing scientific sophistication. A variety of factors contribute to modern vaccine hesitancy, including the layperson’s heuristic thinking when it comes to balancing risks and benefits as well as a number of other features of vaccination, including falling victim to its own success. Vaccine hesitancy is pervasive, affecting a quarter to a third of US parents. Clinicians report that they routinely receive requests to delay vaccines and that they routinely acquiesce. Vaccine rates vary by state and locale and by specific vaccine, and vaccine hesitancy results in personal risk and in the failure to achieve or sustain herd immunity to protect others who have contraindications to the vaccine or fail to generate immunity to the vaccine.
Different groups are hesitant for different reasons, the survey found. According to this article by the New York Times, Black Americans appear most worried about side effects, or that they could get Covid-19 from the vaccine. Nearly one in four Republicans “don’t want to get vaccinated because they don’t believe Covid poses a serious threat,” said Mollyann Brodie, the executive vice president of the foundation. In order to combat this reluctance to get vaccinations, grocers such as Publix is offering incentives for workers to get vaccinated. Attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines seem to be improving in some parts of the world, a survey of thousands of people in 15 countries has found. This is due to raising awareness of previous times that vaccines have worked to stop morbidity for diseases, such as the polio vaccine. Thanks to the polio vaccine, dedicated health care professionals, and parents who vaccinate their children on schedule, polio has been eliminated in this country for more than 30 years. This means that there is no year-round transmission of poliovirus in the United States.
Personally, I fully support the use of vaccines, but I worry about possible long-term side effects with the new vaccines. How can anyone say with any confidence there will be no long-term consequences with vaccines that have been developed so rapidly? Even so, I would gladly take the vaccine if it means I can protect my family and friends.
Germy Banter 